ASK IRA: Are Heat still waiting for a leading man?

Q: Dwyane Wade was one of those unique draft choices whose talent level was so great that it lifted his team to championships when he had the right supporting cast. There is no player on the current Heat roster that comes close to that level. We have to stop hoping that a Justise Winslow or a Bam Adebayo will become that player, they won't. Without a transformative free-agent signing we will always be a mediocre team. Would you agree? -- Bob, Boca Raton.

A: Or a transformative trade. Or a transformative draft choice. I access players on three levels: Can they contribute to a playoff team? Can they contribute to a championship team? Can they lift a team to a championship? I believe Justise Winslow and Bam Adebayo can meet those first two measurements. I have yet to see from either the ability to be a leading man. So, as stated here so often, it all is about airlifting in a leading man. Is that Jimmy Butler? It would seem that he would have advanced further by now in the playoffs if he was that element. So the dance for the Heat front office is finding a way to keep enough contributors while also establishing a means of adding a leading man. It is why the squandering of some cap space has come into question, from the length of the Dion Waiters and James Johnson contracts, to now having to endure the stretch payments to Ryan Anderson.

Q: Let's admit it: Pat Riley's contracts to James Johnson and Dion Waiters were simply bad buys, what my grandmother used to call "thrown-away money." In both cases, he should have known better. Waiters was ditched by Cleveland and OKC; JJ's a good guy but was past his prime potential from the start. The Heat won't be able to emerge from hole he's dug for the team until 2021, at best. -- Zalman.

A: Actually, I think the Jimmy Butler signing changed that outlook and timing, with a playoff return likely this coming season. And then, if there is a way for Riley to advance the rebuild with a trade, there could be even more in 2020-21. Yes, there was a point when it the outlook appeared limited for the next two seasons. But after the Heat took no salary-cap space and turned it into Butler, I'm not sure that skepticism still should rule the day, no matter how the final two seasons on the contracts of Dion Waiters and James Johnson play out. I actually could see the Heat working around that money, having gained such experience when working around Chris Bosh's money.

Q: Udonis Haslem is no longer useful to us. Why do you continue to waste a roster spot on someone who is no longer a contributor? Loyalty isn't gonna win us rings. Players that can contribute are. -- Key.

A: But leadership is a key component in any success story. So now we get to see whether such leadership can be tangible without playing time. For their part, teammates swore by Udonis Haslem’s presence last season, and that was when Dwyane Wade was still in place to maintain cultural continuity.